Larry Summers, president emeritus and professor at Harvard University, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.
Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers on Wednesday took leave from his post at Harvard University and said he will not teach classes there for the rest of this semester amid a furor over the release of emails between him and the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Earlier Wednesday, Summers said that he will resign from the board of OpenAI.
Harvard on Wednesday had said it would investigate Summers’ relationship with Epstein in light of the disclosure of their emails.
Summers is a former president of Harvard. He is the director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.
His spokesman, Steven Goldberg, in a statement Wednesday night said, “Mr. Summers has decided it’s in the best interest of the Center for him to go on leave from his role as Director as Harvard undertakes its review.”
“His co-teachers will complete the remaining three class sessions of the courses he has been teaching with them this semester, and he is not scheduled to teach next semester,” Goldberg said.
A Harvard spokesman, in a statement to The Crimson, the student newspaper, said that Harvard is “conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted.”
Summers had announced on Monday that he would be stepping back from all public commitments, but that he would continue teaching classes at Harvard. He was mum until Wednesday about remaining on the board of directors at the artificial intelligence startup OpenAI.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress,” Summers said in a statement to CNBC confirming he resignation.
OpenAI’s board told CNBC it respects Summers’ decision to resign.
“We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board,” the OpenAI board of directors said in a statement.
Details of Summers’ correspondence with Epstein were made public last week after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released more than 20,000 documents it obtained pursuant to a subpoena from Epstein’s estate. Summers has faced intense scrutiny following the release of those files.
Summers joined OpenAI’s board in 2023 during a turbulent period for the startup. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was briefly ousted from the company, though he returned to the chief executive role days later.
In the wake of “The Blip,” as some OpenAI employees call it, Summers was appointed to the board alongside Bret Taylor, former co-CEO of Salesforce, and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, who was the only member of OpenAI’s previous board who still held a seat.
Axios was first to report Summers’ resignation from the board.
President Donald Trump on Friday asked the Department of Justice to investigate the relationship between Epstein and Summers, as well as Epstein’s ties to former President Bill Clinton, JPMorgan Chase and billionaire tech investor Reid Hoffman. Trump has been facing renewed pressure over his own past friendship with Epstein.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. told CNN on Monday that Harvard should sever ties with Summer.
He announced his intention to step back from his public commitments later that day, but said he will continue to fulfill his teaching obligations at Harvard.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” Summers said in a statement to CNBC on Monday.
Congress on Tuesday agreed to pass a bipartisan bill ordering the Department of Justice to release all of its files on Epstein, clearing the path for Trump to sign it into law.
WATCH: House overwhelmingly votes to release more Epstein investigation files, sends bill to Senate
